Time to shake off the complacency

In a guest post for JustHere, Alanood Al Thani, a journalism student, writes about what she hopes the new and young leadership would bring about.

I was two when Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa became the Emir of Qatar. He is the only Emir I have known and what an experience it has been.

In my early years I grew up in a small–untapped country. I never thought Qatar would be where it is today, a global leader. This past 18–years have been about development, progress from the helm down.

Now, his son who is a leader in his own right is taking charge and making sure our people are ready to carry this nation into the future.

Tuesday we woke up with one Emir and went to bed with another. The “new Emir”, Sheikh Tamim, is a young and vivacious 33-year-old who will definitely help Qatar and its pursuit to motivate its youth.

Complacency of my generation has made the state economically weaker. Human capital is imported expensively while Qataris waste their capabilities.

Most Qataris can depend on the government for jobs, housing, cash and a whole slew of other things. The government created these policies to ensure that Qataris do not go hungry or homeless.

However, those policies have created complacency within the youth. Complacency of my generation has made the state economically weaker. Human capital is imported expensively while Qataris waste their capabilities.

Sheikh Tamim’s age is only going to help inspire other Qataris to strive for better. Qatar’s National Vision 2030 places emphasis on social, human and economic development that will help our youth become global players.

Sheikh Tamim’s smooth transfer to power and Qatari’s overwhelming support for the new Emir puts him in a greater position than his father was in 1995. Furthermore, Sheikh Tamim is an experienced leader rumoured to have directed most of Qatar’s domestic policy during the last few years of Sheikh Hamad’s reign.

(The writer is a Journalism major at Northwestern University-Qatar, and is interested in the poltical economy of the Gulf states. You can follow her tweets on @al_anood)